bill: does the debt debate matter to you? be -- 8 l 5% say yes. ,85%. jamie: "happening now" starts right now. bill: good to be with you, jamie. see you tomorrow. jenna: fox news alert, a military transport plane slamming into a mountain in morocco, the state news agency now saying 78 people died in that crash. rick folbaum is watching for us, and we're hearing word of survivors? >> reporter: that's right, three people have been pull prd the wreckage, and it's amazing when you consider the devastation that must have occurred when this plane crashed into the mountainside. a military plane, a c-130, it went down in the southern part of the country. 78 people are dead. apparently, this plane was flying through a mountainous area, and the weather was not

good. the plane said to have crashed into the mountainside, the state news agency saying there were 60 members of the military onboard along with 12 civil grabs and nine crew members -- civilians and nine crew members. again, 78 people are dead, but these early numbers tend to change, and there is a rescue operation, we're told, that's going on right now, so hopefully the number of survivors pulled will exceed that that we know of right now, which is three. as we get more information, we'll bring it to you right here on fox. back to you. jenna: sounds good, rick. we certainly have a lot of developments to get to today, hi, everybody, we're so glad your -- you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: and i'm jon scott. new developments in the drama that grips capitol hill and the white house. dueling plans are out now on raising the limit to our nation's credit card and reducing the deficit. wendall goler, our senior foreign affairs correspondent,

is live on the north lawn. wendall? >> reporter: jon, starting today house republicans will begin trying to sell their proposal to cut the deficit and raise the debt ceiling to democrats, and if they don't, democrats in the senate will then try and sell their plan to republicans. the chairman of the president's national economic council says mr. obama's address to the nation last night was a warning that democrats and republicans aren't even close. >> what the president was trying to do was let people know that we really are at a stalemate, that we have, that nothing is coming out of congress that is likely to pass be both houses and that this is a time where we as a country have to come together and have compromise and have bipartisanship. >> reporter: saturday was the last time the president and can congressional leaders met. speaker boehner's plan would cut $1.2 trillion in spending and set up a bipartisan congressional commission to look for another 1.3 trillion in savings in into it red light

programs. majority leader reid's plan would do the same, but it would also count a trillion dollars in savings from winding down the wars in iraq and be afghanistan. that would raise the debt ceiling enough to get us through 2012, though boehner's would only take us through the end of the year. last night the president and speaker both aimed to put publish pressure on the other. >> there's no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. break its grip, and we begin to liberate our economy and our future. >> i'm asking you all to make your voice heard. if you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of congress know. >> reporter: enough people did, presumably supporters as well as opponents, that the speaker's web site crashed along with those of a couple of other republicans and at least one democrat. republicans say the president wants a long-term debt ceiling hike to keep it out of his re-election bid. democrats say the bond rating agencies want a long-term hike. a short-term one, they say, would risk a downgrade of this

country's credit rating, and that would hike credit interest rates on everyone. jon: the overwhelming number of calls coming into senate offices are urging members to oppose the president's call for tax increases, so we'll see. wendall goler, thank you. jenna: for more on this developing story, we're joined by a congressman who says both sides are responsible for the mess we're in. congressman bill pascal of new jersey, house of ways and means and wasn't committees, i should say, separate committees. congressman, nice to have you with us. >> jenna, how are you today? jenna: well, we're certainly in the mix here, talking about the debt ceiling, deficit reduction, and we have these two plans forwarded by the speaker of the house and the majority leader. do either seem like they're going to have that magic compromise that we need right now to get through congress?

>> >> well, i -- at first blush if you asked me that question before the weekend, i would have said that harry reid's position, what he's trying to get through the senate, what he will try to get through the senate is a much more reasonable thing in that it gets us past the presidential election and gets us out of this morass that we are in right now. on the other hand, i don't know what the credibility mr. boehner has since when we go back to the republican budget of this year, it led in seven or eight years to the demise of medicare. and we're not going to accept that on the democratic side. so when we talk about putting entitlements on the table, we should put them on the table. we're not going to save medicare by destroying it, though, and that is behind the entire republican plan. and i don't think it's fair, and i don't think it's just, and i believe the american people feel the same as i do. jenna: there's so many different moving parts to both of these plans. >> you're right. jenna: i just got a headline

from one of our great producers over on capitol hill with a statement coming from steny hoyer, the house minority whip, who says a short-term debt limit extension is something we cannot accept. it will continue to roil the markets. your response on that. so you would not be for a short-term extension of the debt ceiling to get us through this period? >> i think steny hoyer is right on target. certainly, when the republicans were quoting moody's and standard & poor's, when they were saying that we are in tough shape and they're going to lower our credit rating and republicans said, see what they're saying? now that standard & poor's said but not only do we want this debt rating to be raised, the debt limit to be raised, but we also want it to be long term because we cannot, the economy cannot afford to go through this once again. look, jenna, the facts are very, very, very clear. not to point fingers because i believe in a bipartisan solution, i've said this from the very beginning. neither party's on the virtue of

getting the house in order, 40%, 2019, 40% of the problem we have still goes back to the bush administration and its raising of -- cutting of taxes, particularly the top 2% which didn't need it, didn't ask for it, did not contribute to any job increase. and, secondly, did not increase think revenue increase until 2005. those are the facts, deal with them. jenna: so as far as -- >> fast forward -- i'm sorry. jenna: as far as dealing with them, you came out with a statement last night, and you cited idealogues as being the reason why we're not reaching a compromise. are you confronting idealogues within the democratic party, and is that one of the reasons as well that we're not reach ago compromise? >> i've seen many democrats since four or five months ago have come forward and said they would look at and put everything on the table which is very different than what was being said four, five months ago.

i know there are 50 republicans at least in the house of representatives who said it's our way or the highway, we're not even going to consider revenue on the table. we don't want any revenue enhancers, we don't want to deal with anything like that. all's we want to do is cut and cut and cut. and right now that would lead to more job loss in the private sector. i don't accept that. and many of the democrats and be republicans don't accept that. jenna: well, what are you seeing from, what do you see from the republicans that you agree with? is there, is there a space that you see, okay, this is where the compromise could begin? as you say, both sides are responsible. where is that space? >> yes. i think that the president put forth over $4 trillion in cuts during the next ten years, i think it's a great place to start with. this is the president came a long way, he conceded. i understand from his speech last night that he even took revenue off the table. so, i mean, we can't have a total all one way and not the

other way. let's have a compromise! gee, that's something different down here. i say, look, i said from the very beginning, jenna, both sides, neither party is privy to virtue on getting the house in order, but i think now more than ever we've got to get across those ideological lines and say, look, let's compromise and come to an agreement, and be it needs to be long term. it needs to get us beyond the politics of next year. jenna: z you mentioned, the president coming out last night. did he actually mean revenue's off the table? we're going to be asking the budget director that in about an hour. congressman, we appreciate your time today. >> always a pleasure, jenna. thank you. jon: overseas now, the lawyer for norway's suspected mass murderer says his client is quite likely insane. suspect anders breivik's lawyer adding the only reason he's taking the case is to defend an ideal of democracy, every person's right to a legal defense. the question now whether breivik

could face more serious charges of crimes against humanity. greg burke is in oslo, norway, with more for us. >> reporter: hey, jon, that's right. in just about an hour they're going to start releasing names of the victims, of course, people know who many of them are, but this will be the first time the police start doing it officially. it's a long process because, of course, they have to notify the relatives first, and victims are located all over the country. now, earlier today breivik's lawyer giving some insight into what his client was thinking. he certainly does suggest he was insane or in the words of the lawyer, quote, not like one of us. he says his client was not aware of the reaction it has and the outrage that his actions have provoked. he also says that breivik thought he was going to be shot. he wouldn't, didn't think he would be able to pull it all off, but would be shot right after the bombing. the lawyer says breivik sees himself as the savior of europe. >> he said it was necessary to start a war here in europe as

well as the western world. so he's sorry that it was necessary, but it was necessary, he says. >> reporter: the country seems to be pull being together -- pulling together. flowers are all over oslo today because last night there was a vigil, and instead of candles, most people came with flowers. about 150,000 people going through downtown, passing by the cathedral. it's a pretty small town, so you certainly see both the effects of the bombing, but you see, also, the effects now of how people are starting to deal with it. it certainly looks like something that's going to take a bit of time before they get it all together. and finally, jon, this is really such a drastic event for norway. somebody referred to it as 9/11, their 9/11. but in a way it's even a little bigger than 9/11 just because of how small this country is in terms of population. somebody was telling me today every town, every county has been affected by this because

kids at that camp were coming from be all over the country. jon? jon: greg burke reporting live from norway. greg, thank you. jenna: well, we've touched on some of the breaking news of the day, and we've got more big stories, including this: she's a noted cyber crime expert commenting on internet privacy and security, and now guess what? she's also a victim. why police were called to her home, and how she's helping them track down the bad guys. also, some schools in a tough spot because of a new immigration law requiring them to report on the legal status of students. why this could cost the schools federal funding. we're live with that story. and also rick is live at the dot.com wall with three hot videos, and our audience gets to choose the news. >> reporter: that's right, jenna. these are three great stories, we like 'em all, which one do you like the best? go to foxnews.com/happeningnow and scroll down to where it says hot video poll, and here are your selections for this tuesday. a giant shark, 650 pounds, over

13 and a half feet long. take a look at this thing. we've got the story if you decide. also pandas, do you know how long panda's typically live for? usually around 25 years. this is the oldest panda in this china, and she is a brand new mom. or else the final selection today, a man who was trap inside a 30-footman hole. he survived, we'll have his amazing story of survival for him. go and place your vote, we'll have the results and the story coming up a little later on "happening now", and more "happening now" coming right up after the break. ] we don't jusp here for the view up in alaska. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster. the only time you can savor three sweet alaskan crab entrees all under $20, like our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake or sn crab and crab butter shrimp.

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jenna: new information on some crime stories we've been keeping an eye on, a 50-year-old man arrest inside connection with a hazmat scare. junction city, kansas, authorities topped the suspect's -- stopped the suspect's truck to insure

nothing dangerous was inside the vehicle. jury selection, in the meantime, underway in the trial of warren jeffs, he's accused of sexually assaulting underage girls. if convicted, he faces up to 99 years to life in prison. and a cyber crime expert at the center of a hostage host, authorities surrounding her home for hours after a man called saying he was armed and holding two hostages. they broke in, the authorities did, to find only her cat inside, and now be she's trying to help them figure out who made that call. jon: a new immigration law in alabama putting some public school officials on edge. it requires them to check the legal status of children who enroll and report the number of undocumented students to the state. some educators say that runs counter to established federal laws, and is violating those statutes could cost districts a whole lot of money. jonathan serrie live for us in atlanta. jonathan? >> reporter: hi, jon. well, sponsors of the new law

say it will give alabama taxpayers a more accurate assessment of just how much they're spending each year on providing public services such as education to illegal immigrants in that state. but some public school officials are concerned about a provision in the law requiring them to report statistics on how many undocumented students they enroll. that, they say, could put them in violation of federal law which prevents public schools there turning away homeless or migrant children who lack birth certificates or proof of residency. >> if a kid comes in here and speaks broken english, should we then begin some kind of document search on 'em? should we ask for their green card? should we fingerprint 'em? you know, we're certainly not going to do those things. >> reporter: alabama lawmakers insist the new legislation does not require schools to refuse to educate anyone or turn any child in to authorities. they say the law will provide taxpayers a better idea of what

they're spending to educate the children of undocumented imgrants. >> we have a certain sort of hypothesis, but we need to begin to gather that data so we can prove how much of a problem it really is. >> reporter: now, civil rights groups have already won temporary injunctions against at least parts of similar immigration laws in the states of arizona, indiana, utah and georgia, but alabama legislators say the late arrival of their law, which takes effect in september, has given them time to research what's going on in other states and draft legislation that they believe will stand up to legal challenges at home. jon? jon: jonathan serrie in atlanta, thank you. jenna: well, they're accused of beating a san francisco giants' fan to within an inch of his life. why police now think brian stowe may not be the suspect's only victim and what they're doing about it, just ahead. plus, jon, you ever indulge in some comfort food? jon: oh, you've seen me eat.

[laughter] jenna: now we know exactly why certain foods make us feel so good. a little mac and cheese, a little chocolate cake. dr. marc siegel has the scoop on why it's not just all emotional eating, starving. [laughter] ♪

jenna: welcome back, everybody. cops out this california say a baseball fan beaten into a coma wasn't the only one targeted opening day. these two men are accused of beat ago san francisco giants' fan so badly he's now paralyzed. investigators hope other victims will come forward and share their stories with police. rick folbaum is following this story from the newsroom. >> reporter: first, police

arrested the wrong guy, now they say they have the two right guys responsible for that attack at dodgers stadium this year on opening day. and as you said, they say there may be more victims. brian stowe, who was evidently a target because he was wearing a san francisco giants' jersey in the los angeles, as you mentioned he is still hospitalize with the a brain injury. the two new suspects are louie sanchez and marvin norwood, and they both have rap sheets and are each being held on a variety of different charges. police say they have photographs putting the men at that game, and they can tell by the gps tracking on each of their cell phones that they were, actually, at the game. they were in court yesterday, they have their next court dates coming up next month and, again, police have reason to believe, they say, that others at the game also wearing giants' attire were assaulted. and they want those people to come forward with any information. back to you. jenna: first we're hearing about

that, more developments as we get it, rick. thank you. in. jon: depression, no, this isn't one of those medication commercials, an estimated 121 million people around the world suffer there -- from out it, but a new study finds france and the united states have the highest rates of depression. folks in wealthier nations suffer more than those in poor countries. why? let's get an exla nation from dr. marc siegel, a professor with nyu's medical center. all right, i'd be depressed if i lived in the france, but in the united states? why? >> you know, they actually looked at 89,000 people, it comes out of a british journal. i think the issue is if you have too much time on your hands, you think too much. a place like somalia, an underdeveloped country, you may actually be too busy getting food on your table to get depressed. second thing, is they may be depressed over there, but no one

knows it because we're scrutinizing for it here, so we're going to diagnose for more depression. studies show actually one-half of the people who are depressed here are not diagnosed. jon: i thought it was an actual condition of the brain and not just, oh, i only have the ipad one and not the two. >> that's true, in other words, you think you're depressed, you've got a monkey on your back, and then it gets worse and worse. so it's both. it's a combination of biochemical and psychological. jon: there's another study that i wanted to bring to your attention and get your take on this. i think british researchers pumped a bunch of people full of fatty foods and said, hey, guess what? there really is something to comfort food. if you have sort of, you know, not a great item of food, ice cream, that kind of thing, it actually makes you feel better. >> maybe that's a treatment for those 121 million. this actually comes out of belgium, and it takes 12 people, and it actually fed them fat and

then looked at their brains and asked them how they felt. they find in the few minutes after eating fat, they felt better. if they showed them a sad song, they didn't get sad if they'd eaten fat. but if you tried this long term and started looking in the mirror and saw how these fats affected you, i'd bet you'd get depressed. so i'm not buying this. jon: you think the study's too small? >> too short a period of time and not considering how bad fats are for you. jon: but the assumption of the researchers is the fatty as sited -- acidded actually do something to your brain. >> i think this is a well done study, and it's feeling us something. maybe this is about when you get sad news and you have ice cream and you feel better, there's something to that, but i am not prescribing this treatment. jon: but jenna can still buy me the cheeseburger for lunch?

>> she's buying? jon: sure. right, jenna? jenna: that sounds pretty good. no prescription for cheeseburgers today. well, rain, snow and sleet may not keep mail carriers from their appointed rounds, budget cuts could stop them cold. just how bad things have gotten for the u.s. postal service, our mail delivery, straight ahead. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently ridinghe dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade and check my investment portfolio, research stocks, and set conditional orders. wait, why are you taking... oh, i see. hey max, would it kill you to throw a guy a warning bark? [ dog barks ] you know i wanted a bird. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.

@ ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah @ jenna: well, a fox weather alert for you now because experts are

predicting some dangerous conditions today. heat advisories in parts of the mississippi valley expect today last at least until thursday while a storm system in the dakotas is expected to bring maybe a few twisters. maria molina's live in the weather center were more. >> reporter: a lot of heat and also some severe weather possible especially as we head into those afternoon and evening hours across the northern plains. take a look at some of these heat index values from yesterday, 112 across parts of texas and even the carolinas, 110 in the town of darlington in south carolina, and all of this is because of a large had been been -- high pressure system across the midwest. temperatures of at least 90 degrees, especially along texas where we continue to see these 100-degree temperatures. we're expecting a high in dallas at 1020, that would be the 25th consecutive day of 100-dee

temperatures, and another town in texas has currently seen 60 days in a row of temperatures at 100 degrees or greater, and they are currently tied for the streak, and we're likely going to wreak that because as we take a look at the forecast true the weekend, triple-digit highs still in the forecast. those excessive heat warnings remain in place across the plains because when you factor in the humidity, it feels even hotter. and, jenna, here's a look at that storm system we will be tracking throughout the day today, slowly creeping into the dakotas for that potential for severe weather. jenna: maria, thank you very much. jon: a fox business alert for you now and some big reeds on the -- big reads on the economy today. two of those on the housing market. new home sales falling 1% last month hitting record lows in parts of the northeast and the west. but there's one bright spot. home prizes rose for a second

straight month in may helped by spring buying. prices rose in 16 of the 20 cities surveyed. meantime, consumer confidence slightly herer in july, up to 59.5 from june's 57.6 but still well below 90, and that's what it takes to indicate a healthy economy. so far the markets seem more focused on company earnings than the debt crisis. the dow down slightly right now, about 55 points, but eventually the markets will react to the lack of a debt deal. fox business network's rich edson live from washington with more on that. rich? >> reporter: well, jon, it stands on two different proposals right now, one pushed by republicans, the second -- naturally -- pushed by democrats. first off, to the senate plan, something offered by senate majority leader harry reid. cuts $2.7 trillion over ten years and then raises the debt ceiling through next year and into 2013. now, democrats say this is

everything that republicans wanted. republicans say it's filled with budget gimmicks, so they've proposed their own plan over in the house right now that would cut and curb spending to the tune of $1.2 trillion over ten years, raises the debt ceiling through the end of this year, then it creates a commission to overhaul taxes, entitlements, basically, find $1.8 trillion at least in additional savings. and then if congress were to find that additional 1.8 trillion or so in savings, that would authorize the second increase of the debt ceiling in this plan, and that would take the federal government through 2012 and into 2013. now, the president prefers the senate approach, doesn't like the house approach, but there's a question out there as to whether the president would actually veto the bill of that house proposal if it were to maneuver itself through the house and be through the senate. and this morning the folks at "fox & friends" asked the top white house economic adviser about that. take a listen. >> the real debate right now is not about a bill that hypothetically could get to the president's desk because right now you've got two bills that

are probably going to face stalemates. neither are likely to pass both houses. >> reporter: the republicans are jumping on this saying, basically, there is no veto threat from the white house, so they will vote on their proposal tomorrow in the house of representatives. we're still waiting on the senate to see when they may bring their plan up. jon: veto, one of the words the president did not use in that address last night. rich edson, fox business network, thank you. jenna: well, we'll continue to talk about the economy here. new information on just how tough times are for the u.s. postal service. the agency says they will look into closing thousands of post offices as they try to cut costs. rick is live in the newsroom with more. rick? >> reporter: well, the u.s. postal service has been losing money for years, $8 billion last year alone. so that's a lot of money, and in order to try to cut costs they're looking to close down post offices. these are retail branches and headquarters around the country, stations, local offices. about 3600 or so is the number that the postal officials say

they need to cut, and your local post office could actually be on the list of those that may be closed. but that's not all. the postal service is also cutting staff, and it's asked congress to allow it to cut back delivery from six days a week to five. and so a number of things under consideration, and i've got to say, jenna, considering all the junk mail and bills that show up in my mailbox every day, i wouldn't mind the they cut back service. jenna: what about all those love letters, rick? [laughter] >> reporter: those stopped coming a long time ago. jenna: happily married with several children, there you go. jon: his wife still drops one in the box. right now president obama's nominee to head up the national counterterrorism center faces an uphill battle if he wants confirmation from congress. matthew olson on capitol hill this morning where he is being questioned by members of the senate intelligence committee. some senators oppose his confirmation because they say his work at guantanamo bay might have led to the release of

dangerous detainees. catherine herridge is keeping an eye on it live in washington. catherine? >> reporter: well, thank you, jon. in the past the confirmation hearing for the hub for threat assessment within the u.s. government has been fairly rue teach, but just about two hours into the senate hearing, it has been contentious with a number of accusations that a member of congress was misled by matthew olson to close defense camps. -- detention camps. and republican congressman frank wolf claims he was misled about the status of detainee transfers to the u.s. during an april 2009 meeting that, in fact, decisions had already been made. but mr. olson, as head of that task force, chose only to discuss the process and not the decisions. republican senator saxby chambliss laid out the concerns including accusations that the white house intended to transfer detainees to the u.s. in a secretive way. >> it was to be a stealth move. they were going to show up here, and we were going to announce

it, said one senior official, describing the swift, secret i operation -- secretive operation that was designed by the administration to preempt any political outcry that could prevent the transfer. >> reporter: in response, olson admitted the decision on the transfer of two detainees had been made by april 14, 2009, and that when he met with the republican congressman eight days later, he was not told about those decisions. olson claims he did not have the authority to disclose that information. >> i do understand his frustration. i don't, i did not mislead, i was not in a position to decide myself at that policy time that i was going -- at that time that i was going to lay out exactly what that decision making process was. we had met before that briefing and talked about what we were going to say and what we were going to be able to talk about in terms of the review process. >> reporter: we really had one of the most significant headlines within about the past ten minutes.

one of the contentions of the white house as well as the president is that closing guantanamo bay is important because guantanamo is used as a recruiting tool for al-qaeda and other extremist groups, yet when that question was put to matt olson, he said there's no evidence that there's been any lessening of al-qaeda's recruitment against the u.s. because the president has made that decision to try and close guantanamo bay, jon, and that is really big news because it goes existence the stated -- against the stated outcome the white house feels guantanamo would bring. jon: so any indications on when they're going to vote on this nomination? >> reporter: there aren't, but i have to say watching the hearing this morning, it has not been going very well for the nominee on a number of fronts. one is the question that was raised by congressman frank wolf whether he was misled in april of 2009, and then i think, also, significantly there were questions about fisa, nsa which was not made clear to the committee, and finally the statement that the administration has seen no evidence that closing guantanamo

bay would lessen any efforts by al-qaeda to use it as a recruitment tool against the united states. jon: yeah, that certainly contradicts a lot of what we've heard, or so it would seem. catherine herridge, thank you. jenna: a tour boat ride takes a terrifying term. why a coast guard cutter responds on lake michigan. take a look at that. and now it's easier to take news with you wherever you go, go to foxnews.com/mobile. get fox news alerts, streamline video, watch the latest clips from your favorite shows, like "happening now," all on the go. we'll see you right after the break. almost tastes like one of jack's als.

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energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. jenna: right now some new developments we're keeping an eye on across the united states and around the world today. some terrifying moments on a lake michigan tour boat. a daring helicopter rescue as near 4-foot waves crash over the bow and damage the boat. meantime, the family of amy

winehouse holding a private funeral for her today. the soul singer's father thanking supporters saying his daughter's life was devote today just one thing, and that one thing is love. also congressional phones are ringing off the hook, the president urging people to call their representatives over the debt debate last night. they did both for and against the plan, apparently. so much so many callers got a busy signal. computers at the capitol also reportedly overwhelmed, democracy at work. jon: so let's talk to one of those congressional leaders. the clock is ticking for those in washington to get a debt limit deal into place or face the consequences. the president and some lawmakers claim the if the debt ceiling is not raised within one week's time, the economic consequences could be catastrophic. others say those predictions are overblown and a bigger threat would be not enacting serious budget reforms.

republican congressman phil gingrey of georgia, first of all, the telephone situation in your office, are they ringing off the hooks? >> they are ringing off the hooks, absolutely. people are -- jon: and what are those constituents telling you? >> they're saying, congressman gingrey, you stand strong on cut, cap and balance because that's a fair proposal, you've passed it in the house in a bipartisan way, and the senate moved to table it in a procedural vote. but you stay strong, we're going to get this done. we don't want to see the debt ceiling crisis actually occur on august the 2nd. but as you said in your opening remarks, worse than not raising the debt ceiling would be to raise it with absolutely no fiscal responsibility. i think our credit rating agencies would downgrade our credit just as quickly if we did that. jon: well, you acknowledge that the senate tabled cut, cap and balance. like it or not, we've got a bicameral system here.

you're not going to be able to get that through the senate, or so it would appear. what's plan b? >> well, you know, they can untable it. harry reid could bring it off the table, and they can vote on it, and, in fact, if they want to change it a little bit, they don't like the provisions of the cut or the cap or, indeed, even the balanced budget amendment, then we on the other side are open to suggestions. that's what conference committees are for. but they're not even giving that cut, cap and balance bill, bipartisanly passed in the house, an opportunity. so, i mean, it is coming down to a matter of who's going to blink. but i don't hear the media saying to president obama who's insisting on tax increases to raise revenue admitting that he's already taxed those people that make more than $200,000 a year. 3.8% to help pay for obamacare. an additional payroll tax of 3.8%. you know, how much do you tax

the goose that laid the golden egg before you finally kill it, and in the process kill job creation in this country? jon: well, talking about the president, in that speech last night he essentially insisted on revenue enhancers, as he called it, tax increases. even senator reid's new budget plan doesn't call for any tax increases. the president seem to be to the left of his own party on this. >> well, the reid plan, of course, the 2.7 trillion, he wants to front lead the increase in the debt ceiling and then make a promise that we're going to cut spending later. and, of course, the spending that he's talking about is a trillion dollars savings for the winddown in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, and a $400 billion savings on the interest on the debt. these things are going to happen anyway. that's smoke and mirrors. those are not true cuts like we have in john boehner's plan. jon: all right. we'll see where this thing goes. are you optimistic that there

will be a deal? >> i'm like my speaker, i was born with a glass half full, i remain optimistic but not cock-eyed optimism, no. jon: all right. congressman phil gingrey, republican of georgia. it's good to have you on, thank you. >> thanks for having me, jon. jenna: much more on the debt debate up ahead, but on a lighter note what do victoria's secret and a flash mob have in common? a surprise being answer straight ahead. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there?

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jon: you have probably heard of a flash mob, when a large group of people gets together in a public place for, i don't know, sometimes dancing, something, some other kinds of things. what about a flash rob? it is a disturbing new trend in

the d.c. area, and the latest target appears to be women's lingerie. rick has the details. >> reporter: well, there was no dancing going on here. it happened again in the d.c. area, this time a victoria's secret store in the georgetown section of washington d.c. police say two men and women who evidently hooked up and coordinated the robbery using either facebook or twitter went in to the store. they rush in, in this a matter of seconds they rush back out with a lot of merchandise. and as you said, this is a trend. and it's very reminiscent of something that happened in the dupont circle part of washington, d.c., and i have some of the video that i'll show you here on my ipad. first of all, these are mannequins, so they're not going to move, but take a look at the movement inside of this store. again, just this past april 19 teenagers rushing the g star raw store overwhelming customers and employees. they ended up stealing more than $20,000 in merchandise. and it's not just in d.c.

just last month in if upper darby, pa, that's outside of philly, 15 teenagers descending on a sears store going in and stealing a ton of merchandise from there. prosecutors have decided to up the charges against those kids outside of philly as a way to have -- of trying to convince other kids not to pull the same thing. but these flash robberies and mobs seem to be a growing trend as more and be more kids go on social networks to meet up and not always do nice stuff. back to you. jon: so it's basically shoplifting by committee, huh? >> >> reporter: and mass should have lifting -- shoplifting in order to overwhelm the store. jon: rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: new york's governor suspending tour bus licenses after two fatal crashes just last week. nearly 100 bursts targeted for -- buses targeted for blatant safety violations. lawmakers are joining in hoping

to spark a nationwide solution. rick leventhal has more on this. >> reporter: it seems like we're hearing more and more ab crashes involve -- about crashes involving tour buses, and we are. that's left 32 dead and more than 320 people injured to coast. the most recent crash in upstate new york last friday, a crowded tour bus pulled out onto a highway in front of a tractor-trailer near syracuse, and this fiery accident left 30 hurt and the truck driver killed. while new york governor andrew cuomo says there have been frequent and sometimes flagrant violations of safety regulations by charter bus companies, so he singled out the eight biggest companies. this has idled about 100 buses until the operators can demonstrate that they deserve to be on the road. new york has been cracking down on charter buses since march after a horrific wreck of a casino charter on i-95 left 15 dead and 18 hurt.

since then the state department of transportation has performed 3,000 surprise roadside inspections. that's a 400% increase. they've benched 304 drivers, sidelined 238 buses, and u.s. senator chuck schumer recently called for beefing up standards and a national grading system. >> you can be sure if a bus company was required to pull cs or ds, people would not ride it. they'd go on the buses with the as. >> reporter: some of the bus operators targeted said they don't deserve the punishment. one called it absurd and, jenna, they've got buses in the action this weekend so they can supply several weddings. jenna: well, we'll continue to follow that story, rick. thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: here's an unbelievable story. a mother facing years in the prison over her son's jaywalking death. it's a sentence that could be several times longer than that given the drunk driver who

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jenna: apparently a lot of activity on capitol hill. the question is are we moving to closer to solving the debt crisis or maybe even further away. it's a toss up now. hi shall everybody, i'm jenna leave. we are glad you are with us. jon: let's take bets on that one. the deadline to avoid national default seven days away now. the president is calling for compromise but with two rival plans in place on capitol hill, neither side seems to be blinking. bret baier anchors special report. it's been about 15 hours since the president made that speech, has anything changed? >> reporter: a lot has changed as far as what is going on on capitol hill. a lot of scurrying about.

has anything substantively changed about the two different plans and how it's going to come down as far as the votes go, they are still counting heads on both sides of the aisle to see who can get the votes to get these pieces of legislation through the chamber. it was interesting, jon, that the president did not really forcefully advocate for senator reid's plan, he did mention it in his address last night, but he spent a lot of time talking about a big plan, one that also raises taxes, increases revenue. that is not even on the table right now, and the two competing plans that are up on capitol hill. it's almost as if congress has moved past where the president is from his address last night, and when he asked the american people to call their lawmakers, to have them compromise the question was, what are they going to compromise to? that's what they are trying to figure out, what can get passed

legitimately up on capitol hill. jon: i was watching your discussion last night after the president's address, one of your panel lises made the poin panelist said the president is trying to use the bully pulpit, the strength of his office to sway public opinion to his side. there is new gallup polling out that suggests that the president is at the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. 43%, it's now the fourth time that he has hit that number. if he drops another percentage point i guess it would sink to a new low. >> reporter: i mean that is an interesting point. maybe that is more about what that speech was about last night than it was about pushing one particular plan. it didn't seem to have the push, as i mentioned before. a couple of things to note about this. there are a lot of contingency plans going on up on capitol hill. however you slice it, just the

legislative way things work, either side to pass these bills through both chambers of congress, it really is going to push up right against that august 2nd deadline. and we're talking about working through this coming weekend. there are a lot of different things that could happen. but when it comes down to house speaker boehner, he could push some fall-back position and get a lot of democrats to vote for it and not so many republicans. but he runs the risk, in a week or two of a conference in his party where eric cantor, possibly, is nominated as the next speaker. i mean you have a lot of dynamics going on here all coming together in this one week. jon: and i don't know, is there a sense of optimist i can i optimism in washington that two compete be plans will be wrapped up into some convalescent hole

that the president will sign? >> reporter: it's a 50-50 chance . everybody i talk to says, we are doing the numbers here, we are not sure that the votes are there to get this stuff through. now as you get closer to august 2nd, and perhaps the markets react in some way, maybe that moves people off the line, but right now we are in a situation where it is going to push up to that deadline no matter if it is perfectly optimistic on both sides, just to get it done. jon: not much time to get a deal done. bret baier, thank you. bret is going to wrap-up today's news from the hill when he hosts special report. you can tune in tonight and every week night 6:00pm. always a great debate. jenna: the hughes oversight committee is conducting a hearing into the justice department's gun running sting called fast and furious. a new congressional report says more than 120 firearms from that operation were discovered at

drug cartel crime scenes in mexico without the knowledge of the mexican government. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with more. william. >> reporter: well, jenna this morning congress tried to get to the bottom of fast and furious. what we learned today is that lying and duplicity is alive and well at alcohol, tobacco and firearms. as top officials in washington and phoenix hid this program from their colleagues in the u.s. and mexico. secondly double speak. we heard the special agent in charge in phoenix bill newell leave members of congress speechless h exasperated and angry. he would say one thing, like guns don't walk, and the facts clearly show he allowed it to happen, he knew it and time and again it occurred under his watch. he said the purpose was to track the guns to expose the organization. agents have testified repeatedly they were not allowed to do that. even when they saw the transfer of money they were not allowed to follow it. congressmen repeatedly tried

unsuccessfully to nail newell down. >> did you think it was a good program? it appears as though you thought it was a good program at some time. >> sir, as i said in my statement i acknowledge now we did make mistakes in this initiative n this program. >> i think we'll all acknowledge that you're right on that. >> reporter: this program got so out of control one u.s. agent said the u.s. was, quote, single-handedly arming the sinaloa cartel. in a matter of weeks we had sent about 300 assault rifles to mexico and we continued to authorize the sales even when guns bought in phoenix showed up in crime scenes in mexico 24 hours later. the acting anthey called it a perfect storm of idiotcy. >> it's inconceivable. atf does not do that. if i had known that in fact was occurring i would have called

atf headquarters. if we did not get relief from them we would have gone upstairs and told the ambassador. >> reporter: we got a detail accounting of the guns sold about 2,000. 300 have been recovered in the u.s. about 227 in mexico. but 1400 remain on the street. this map in mexico shows you about 122 guns linked to fast and furious has shown up at crime scenes where mexican police and the military have been shot, some fatally, one agent said there are hundreds of brian terries in mexico 0. that of course is the u.s. agent that was shot with a fast and furious gun. finally, jenna agents admit mistakes were made. this investigation didn't over. the next phase is likely to focus on the department of justice and we are told that the head of the criminal division of the u.s. attorney's office, lani brewer the right hand manned of the attorney general eric holder received a detailed briefing and a slide show more than a year ago that he was told about this operation, that it had sold about a thousand weapons to the

cartels for $650,000, so now it goes to the department of justice. who knew what when. back to you. jenna: we have iowa senator chuck grassley, co-author of the congressional report on operation fast and furious, he'll join us later to bring us up to date on developments. you can wafpl it on our website go to foxnews.com for complete coverage on that. jon: we are learning more about the senseless murder of a border patrol agent back in 2009. one of five men charged in the murder of robert rosas admitted the murder was to steal the agent's night vision goggles. he pleaded guilty and faces life in prison when he is sentenced in october. jenna: new information now on the norway terror attacks. suspect anders brevick says he

is fighting a war with cells in other countries. his attorney says he is likely insane. >> reporter: officials are on high alert after the attacks in norway. in a manifesto and a video posted online the man believed to be responsible for both the bombing and the shootings, describes various purported links with far right groups and figures. one organization mentioned 50 times the english defense league. that is an anti-immigrant group responsible for a lot of nasty rhetoric, and some noisy and sometimes violent rallies. we know that brevick attended at least one of them. they are in fact looking at possible ties between the suspect and the edl. the edl denies any involvement with him. british detectives are part of a

50-person task force set up by a european wide law enforcement agency checking out other claims by the norwegian that in fact that he knows of 80 sol 80 80 solo martyr cells ready to act. he claims he attended meetings in london that included extreme activists, and also some from france, germany and elsewhere. thinks lawyer is even saying he is insane. the reality is there are far right anti-muslim or anti-immigrant nation list particular movements across kwraoerp right now. some of the sentiments expressed by the no norwegian shared by mainstream politicians. to a great extent all of this is peaceful, all of this is even political but the chances are that it could tip over to violence as we saw in oslo, that's why a lot of people are

on alert right now, jenna. jenna: much more to the story as it comes. greg palkot, thank you very much. jon: let's talk a little bit about u.s. politics. he says he's not running in 2012. so why is it that new jersey governor chris christie is in iowa today? we'll take you live there. possibly get some answers. jenna: iowa is nice in july, right? with the clock ticking down on america's debt crisis we are talking to jack lu,. jon: first a story that creates a lot of national outrage, a woman facing more jail time than the drunk driver who ran over her little boy. she finds out her fate. the sentence handed down by the judge, breaking news on that next. >> what would it benefit the residents of this county for miss nelson to be in jail separated from two other babies, when she's permanently separated from the baby that she lost on that day? with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced.

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jon: fox news alert and scratch another democrat from congress on the heels of the resignation of new york congressman anthony weiner, congressman david wu of oregon has announced he will resign. it was just 24 hours ago he was saying he would serve out the rest of his term, but would not run again. now we are told he is officially resigning. he has been caught up in a scandal involving sexual advances allegedly made toward a young daughter of a campaign supporter. the seven-term congressman from organ now says he will resign as a result. we'll keep you updated with any new developments in that story. jenna: fox news alert on the economy, a new reuters survey out today finds a slim majority of economists 30 out of 53 thinks we will lose our aaa credit rating as a nation. they put the probability by the

way of default at 5%. also as part of the same survey a majority of economists think the debate in dc has already hurt the economy. we will talk more about these findings with the white house budget director jack lew in just a moment. jon: to a story that is stirring a lot of national outrage. in a georgia courtroom right now a woman facing more years behind bars than the drunk hit-and-run driver who ran over her boy. she finds out her fate. listen as she contemplates possibly leaving two of her surviving children behind if she has to go to prison. >> it's an indescribable pain, you know. you deal with your tears, your childrens' tears, this is somewhere i really didn't want to be, but if this is where i have to go then that's where i have to go. jon: breaking developments in this story.

rick folbaum has them. >> reporter: she could have received up to three years. instead rack kel nelson will get a whole new trial. let's take you back to april of last year when 30-year-old nelson was rushing with her three kids across a busy street in their georgia town. they were not walking in the crosswalk. when a drunk hit-and-run driver plowed into them killing nelson's son aaron who they called a. j. the driver was caught, admitted to having been drinking and on painkillers. he served six months in jail and that is it. nelson was then charged and convicted of second degree homicide by vehicle and faced a sentence three times longer than the driver. here is rack kel nelson in her own words describing what happened the day her son was hurt. >> we were crossing the median with a few other people that had got even off the bus, and as we were waiting for the next traffic to pass along he let go

of my hand and like i said i don't know if he saw somebody else move, and i ran out and tried to catch him. >> reporter: the judge sentenced nelson after she was convicted to 12 months probation, and 40 hours of community service. but they are in a very rare offer the judge said, you can also have a new trial if you'd like. nelson's attorney is saying that they are going to take the judge up on that offer, and so it appears as though raquel nelson will have a brand-new trial and if she is cleared in that new trial her entire record would be cleared. nelson's lawyer saying that today. by the way the hit-and-run driver, jerry guy, he's already out. he had been convicted of two other hit-and-run accidents before he was involved in killing a. j. back to you, jon. jon: let's hope justice prevails here. thank you. jenna: more on the developing story. democratic congressman david wu of oregon is resigning from

congress pending some resolution of the debt ceiling crisis. there is a picture of him. allegations of a sex scandal. we'll keep you up to date as we hear more. we have from the white house joining us today our budget director jack lew straight ahead right after the break. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil no and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪

jenna: right now house republicans are moving toward a vote on a debt ceiling package. the democrats are working on their own deal in the senate. both plans right now are temporary fixes. they extend the debt ceiling and don't include any tax increases. the president calling for a balanced approach that would include some spending cuts and tax increases or bring revenue back into the government. the house speaker says that is not a great idea.

>> the president has often said we need a balanced approach, which in washington means, we spend more and you pay more. having run a small business i know those tax increases will destroy jobs. jenna: let's see if we can define the balanced approach a little bit better. meantime the clock is ticking for us right now. joining us white house budget director jack lew. nice to have you back on our show. >> good to be with you, jenna. jenna: does the president support any of the temporary fixes right now that are circulating on capitol hill? >> i think as the president said last night that the proposal that senate majority leader senator reid put together is a much better approach. it's something that would hit the target that the speaker has asked for, it would extend the debt limit into 2013, and it would do so in a way that we think could get certainly through the united states senate. so we hope that in the end the house and the senate are able to bring their -- bridge their

differences and come up with a plan that the president too can support. jenna: you say the president believes the senate majority leader's plan is a much better approach. as we mention that approach does not include any tax increases or revenue coming into the government. we've talked about this balanced approach that the president has said over and over again, when i think of a balanced approach it's easy to think about scales where it's equal on both sides. you have equal tax increases with equal spending cuts. how do you see the break down, when you talk about a balanced approach? is it equal like that? >> let's be clear, the president was going back over the discussions that have been now taking place over many weeks and he was describing where we should go to solve our deficit problems. and in that kind of approach we have to be talking about revenues as well as spending, because when you look at how we got into the deficit problem that we are in, the cause of it was tax cuts we couldn't afford, a prescription drug benefit we couldn't afford and two wars that we didn't pay for.

so we can't solve the problem all on the spending side. i think there is a slightly different question that you're asking me today, which is that in order to get over this deadlock that the congress is now in over the extension of our authority to pay our bills by raising the national debt, what the different approach for that would be. i think senator reid in that case has put together something that frankly appears designed to be acceptable to the house, because it doesn't raise that issue. jenna: so, he would support senator reid's plan as a temporary fix, but as a longtime debt reduction plan the president would want to see something different? >> just to be clear. senator reid's bill would do serious deficit reduction but not solve our long term deficit problems. the president was speaking to a real structural solution. the tragedy is that the president and speaker were engaged in detailed negotiations where offers were going back and forth for weeks where we were tackling the big questions, questions about entitlement

reform, questions about tax reform, and the president is still prepared to go that route. it appears that there is no long era wing necessary for that approach on the other side. that would be the right thing to do. at a minimum we need to get over this impasse over making sure that the u.s. government can pay its bills. jenna: i'm sorry you have to compete with a truck backing up there. it's not easy to talk about these issues let alone with a bell ringing in the background. there is still the issue of a credit downgrade for the nation and that's something that the president has talked about, whether or not we extend the debt ceiling temporarily, whether or not we have a major deficit reduction plan, we can still see a credit downgrade that would affect each and every american. how close to that downgrade do you believe we are? >> i leave that to the rating agencies. i can tell you that what's clear is that it is not a good thing for a deadlock in washington to create economic chaos, and that's where we're headed if we can't get to the place that the

president was talking about last night, which is compromise, honorable, reasonable compromise. we need to do our work and not have an economic crisis next week. we have a lot of work to do beyond that. the president has made clear, we need to reduce spending, we need to reduce the deficit and revenues have to be part of it. but the first order of business in front of us is not creating an economic crisis that is totally avoidable. jenna: quick final question on that jack. major banks and investors have questioned this august 2nd deadline. we are exactly a week away today. some have said that there is wiggle room that in fact it's not a hard deadline. what is the truth? >> you know, i think there are a lot of people who are trying to figure out with precision something that can only be known in real time. you know, money is moving through the checkbook of the united states government at a remarkably rapid pace and to think that we can pinpoint the exact moment is, frankly, beyond the way it can be managed. what i think we've been saying is that our best estimate is

that august 2nd is very real and that nobody should be assuming that there is wiggle room beyond that. there is always a desire in washington to figure out, where is the last minute, the last possible moment. august 2nd is real. jenna: jack, always nice to have you. thank you so much for take the time to join us. >> thank you, jenna. jenna: thank you so much. more of course on the debt developments as we get them, jon. a lot more to come from both sides of the aisle. jon: it is fascinating to watch this thing as it gels towards some kind of a conclusion. in the meantime some major developments to tell you about on capitol hill. house lawmakers looking into that so-called fast and furious scandal with several new bombshells out just today. we'll talk with one of the strongest voices on the scandals, senator chuck grassley of iowa next. plus, the dangerous heatwave may be over for the east coast but millions of people in the middle of the country are still roasting. a live fox cast for you just

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republicans move toward a vote on the debt ceiling package. no doubt mr. carney's going to be taking all kinds of questions about president obama's quote-unquote balanced approach. that's what he called it last night. republicans said it was sort of a naked political speech from the president. we're going to go live to jay carney's briefing when it gets under way. jenna: well, also down in d.c. as we first reported this morning, new bombshells in the justice department's failed gun-running sting operation dubbed fast and furious. right now there's a hearing underway on capitol hill, and atf officials based in mexico city were denied access to information from their counterparts in the united states allowing thousands of guns to fall into the hands of mexican drug cartels. joining me now to talk more about this, ranking member of the senate jewish dishty committee, iowa senator chuck grassley. senator, obviously, you've been a part of this investigation. what's the biggest development of the morning for you? >> i think two or three things.

one, you already mentioned about people with atf in our mexico city embassy, they were asking questions over a long period of time about this fast and furious. they never got any answers. they testified today when they found out about it, they were very, very embarrassed. another thing that comes up is that if you're going to have wiretaps approved, it has to be done at the assistant attorney general level, and that's above the atf, so they were -- we know at least one wiretap was approved which tells me whether he knew about fast and furious or not, i don't know, but there was a wiretap approved at that level. so that gets us to a higher level within the justice department than we've really been able to verify before. and then we also had people that were agents in charge in phoenix say to us that there really wasn't a plan to have guns walk

across the border. but that's a natural extension of fast and furious anyway which was the sales done to straw people. but the denial that the idea was to walk them across the border, then i don't know what the whole program was about in the first place. jenna: there's a lot of -- it seems that what you're saying is there is a lot of secrets about this program within our own government and within the department. do i have that right, sir? >> well, absolutely. in fact, that's what the term fast and furious is all ant. about. and i know you know it, but i'll repeat it, that somebody in atf decided that we ought to allow our licensed gun dealers, encourage them to sell guns illegally to straw people, maybe even have the federal taxpayers pay for it, we haven't proved that yet. and then these guns would go across the border to the drug cartels, and we would be able to arrest drug kingpins as a result of it. but what happened was, and

people at the grassroots of atf said that this was going to happen before they even came to us as whistleblowers, they reported above this is a bad policy. well, then agent terry was murdered with one of these guns, or at least we think he was murdered. these guns were at the scene. there's 1,880 guns found their way across out of illegal sale -- jenna: and how many guns of those that you mentioned are still out there? >> oh, they'd all be out there. well, maybe a few of them have been come back because we do have the serial numbers on 'em. but remember, this isn't something that you're going to sweep all these guns up ever. these guns are going to be out there doing terror for decades now into the future. jenna: well, so i don't know if this is devil's advocate, but here's a question for you about this program. do you think this cloak and dagger nature of this program that you're describing is intentional? do you think it's intentional by

the justice department, or do you think it's bureaucracy, bad communication, a plan that wasn't necessarily thought through but wasn't necessarily sinister? >> well, it was intentional. it wasn't well thought through. it was a cowboy mentality, and a person was murdered as a result of it. but the bad thing about it is that people at the grassroots as opposed to people up in washington that thought the program up, they tried to get atf to stop it because it wasn't going to work, and the prophesy became true with the murder of border patrol agent terry. jenna: who do you want to take responsibility for this? >> well, that's our main question. i want the person that's responsible at the highest level of government to come forth and say who he was -- jenna: is that eric holder? the he's the head of the justice department. >> you know, i'd like to say i know that for a fact, but i don't. we don't know how high up in justice this goes. that's the whole motive of our investigation, or at least part of the motive of our

investigation. jenna: senator grassley, it's always nice to talk to you. i know you're going to be speaking more about this so thank you so much for joining us here on "happening now." if our audience wants to hear more from the senate, go live to foxnews.com. the senate's going to be joining patti ann brown for more on this topic in just a few minutes, so if you have any questions, post it to the live chat again on foxnews.com. much more to come on that discussion. jon: the governor of new jersey, chris christie, sound ago lot like a presidential candidate during an appearance in the iowa. the rising star in the republican party still insists he has no plans to run for the 2012 nomination. but that is not stopping speculation about his political ambitions. steve brown is live in ankeny, iowa, for us right now. steve? >> reporter: hey there, jon. even though governor christie

has, and i'm paraphrasing here, has answered roughly no, no, and didn't you hear me, i said, no, he still is the source of at least some speculation as to whether or not he might actually get into the race although it is getting quite late to get in. he was here yesterday to talk to an education summit at the invitation of iowa governor terry branstad. now, at a news conference christy once again explained that he's not feeling it's the right time for him to run for the white house. as far as the entire field of potential candidates and the potential endorsement, chris tee says he's not feeling that either. >> i'm not a halfway kind of guy, so if i'm going to get in and support someone, i'm going to do it 100%. and to get there i have to feel that way. about one of the people offering themselves for president. and so, um, if that moment comes, i certainly won't keep it a secret, but i certainly am under no legal obligation to endorse anybody. >> reporter: now, if you're

looking for somebody who really has, perhaps, family values foremost amongst the republican candidates, rick santorum might be somebody that you take a look at, and here's why. he's coming to iowa, and he's planning on spending the next three weeks ramping up to the iowa straw poll on the 13th of august, and he's going to do 50 events. he was going to be here for three straight weeks, he decided he was going to bring his entire family, his wife and seven children. oldest is 20, the youngest is 3, and can they will be joining him out on the campaign trail. i asked him about it today, i said, you know, what prompted this decision? he said, listen, i'm going to miss my family, so i decided to have them out here, so they're mixing it as a vacation and campaigning. you will see them at some events, not at others, but rick santorum is all in with every member of his family, all nine of 'em. back to you in new york. jon: a lot of good surrogates that he can send out to various events. [laughter] makes it easier.

>> reporter: absolutely. jon: all right. thanks very much, steve browne. jenna: breaking news out of congress at this hour, democratic congressman david wu of oregon has announced he is resigning from congress over allegations of an inappropriate relationship, and apparently several big-name democrats were about to demand that he quit, that he leaf washington. more on this developing story after the break.

martha: well, the president asked for response, and he is getting it. capitol hill phones are overloaded right now, we are told, with calls coming in as americans are clamoring to let their representatives know how they feel about this seemingly endless debate over the debt ceiling. we expect brand new developments on this in the next two hours as a deal is in the works to avoid what's been described by the treasury secretary as a default. we'll tell you how that's shaping up. and also parents show their support for their son in the afghanistan, but somebody steps in to try to stop them.

why would anybody want to do that? the mom and dad are here live, we'll find out. all that coming up at the top of the hour. we'll see you here on move may "america live." jenna: the debt crisis, in the meantime, could be aggravating debt stress at our homes. a new poll showing americans are more anxious about how they're going to pay off their personal debt, and many feel the recovery and d.c.'s grip on the deficit are both wobbling. elizabeth mac donald from the fox business network has more details. >> reporter: hi, jenna. take a look at how americans are reacting to debt-related stress. about half of the country is worried about stress, one in five worries about debt most or all of the time, and take a look at what americans are saying about their stress levels. this is a survey of about a thousand adults done by the associated press in conjunction with another pollster. the question is what is your stress level? and you're seeing one in seven

are feeling a great deal of stress and one out of three are feeling some stress. interestingly enough, what's going on here according to the pollsters is debt stress has gone up about 17% since last fall. and so, essentially, the pollsters are saying it's really hitting the income bracket of those making $75,000 or more, the household income there, and the pollsters are also saying debt stress can be a real problem for americans' health, it can create things like ulcers, depression or even heart attacks. back to you, jenna. jenna: wow, unbelievable. retail therapy's not good when -- >> reporter: that's right. jenna: right? it's harder to solve that, paying down those credit card bills. liz, thank you so much. >> reporter: sure, delighted. jon: here's one bright spot on the financial landscape you might want to consider. the cost of many things like food and gas are definitely on the rise, but prices actually are falling on some other popular items. rick folbaum's been doing the shopping, he has the lowdown on which products are getting cheaper. >> reporter: we're paying more at the gas station, the

supermarket, but there are some places where we're paying less, and if you're a smart consumer, you can find some deals. here are some of our favorites. swimming pools, with sales down 75% over the last several years, pool makers are cutting prices, offering freebies and pushing smaller, less expensive pools. also the amazon kindle, you can now get a wi-fi only version for $114, and there's word of an even cheaper kindle coming out just in time for christmas. 3-d television sets, again, poor sales causing manufacturers to cut price on these tvs. models that were around $900 last year are now only 400. ikea, if you don't mind putting it together yourself, ikea products are a real deal. the company slashed prices 2-3% this year, and they're going to do the same thing next year, they say. and volkswagens. if you're in the market for a

new car, check out the jetta or the passat, both of which have a lower base price. nothing flashy, jon, but if it's a deal you're looking for, you might not care. jon: hey, i would take one. >> reporter: they look nice to me. jon: yeah, works for me. rick folbaum, thank you. jenna: as long as you don't need to eat or drive fill up your tank, there's room. [laughter] we'll show you the bargains out there, we're going to find those for you. a controversial new proposal in san francisco to protect ex-cons when they get out of prison. we're going to tell you what people are saying about this one. plus, mcdonald's announcing some big menu choices today, what you will and won't find in your next happy meal. ♪ muck with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. that's why i like glucerna shakes.

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jon: there's a new proposal in san francisco raising eyebrows. it would put ex-cons in the same protected class as pregnant women, minorities and gays. it would prohibit landlords and employers from discriminating against those who have spent any time in the slammer. claudia cowan has more live from san fran. claudia? >> reporter: well, it is controversial, jon. this proposal would prohibit landlords and employers from asking applicants about their criminal past. supporters say it's an effort to reduce recidivism by helping ex-cons get back on their feet, but critics say it's a crime in itself. san francisco's human rights commission wants to protect ex-cons when it comes to banning discrimination in employment and housing. that sounds pretty good to former offenders like monique

love who says boxes on application forms asking about her criminal history unfairly disqualify her. she says at one recent interview she never got her chance to tell her story of recovery and rehabilitation. >> didn't get a shot, not a shot. as soon as he saw that box was checked, he was, like, i'm sorry, we can't help you. >> reporter: others say there is nothing unfair about that at all, and at a recent public hearing property owners voiced their outrage. >> my mother is an immigrant. my mothelaw is a jew, anded cate going to put a felon in there as a protected category? that's not right. >> reporter: many landlords worry the policy will open the door to lawsuits filed by unscrupulous convicts. while 'em hours worry they'll end up wasting time and resources interviewing someone for a job only to find out a

person's not a good fit because of their criminal past. legal action is sure to follow if san francisco gives these special protections to people who broke the law. jon? jon: all right. it's going to be all kinds of developments yet to come on in this one, i think. claudia cowan, thank you. jenna: well, mcdonald's taking some big changes to its popular happy meal menu. the fast food giant announcing today it will add a serving of fruit or vegetables to all its happy meals. wait a minute, don't you get lettuce and tomatoes on the burger? mickey d's also doing something to those fries. mike tobin is live from chicago. mike, doing the research that needs to be done? [laughter] >> reporter: well, yes. you need to do some field research at mcdonald's. you know, jenna, with the current happy meal parents or kids have had the option of choosing french fries or apples. only 11% of the consumers were actually choosing the apples. so by april nationwide when someone buys a happy meal,

they'll get both a half order of apples and a half order of french fries. fewer fries means less fat. also the option of produce is going to be presented to kids each time they clamor for that toy that will still be very much a part of every happy meal. now, in some parts of the country there will be different vegetable and fruit options depending on the season and region, but overall the fast food giant is rolling back portions, calories, saturated fats and sugars, particularly in those happy meals. >> this change, along with the introduction of a new child-sized fry, represents about a 20% reduction in calories in our most popular happy meals. >> reporter: now, mcdonald's says this health kick is not buckling to pressure, but the fast food juggernaut has been under intense pressure from congress, from local government, even civil lawsuits related to childhood obesity, and there are pending regulations for the entire fast food industry. on top of that michelle obama and her battle against childhood

to beastie has called these changes a positive step. jenna? jenna: well, we hope our audience goes out and checks it out for themselves. you can do your own research, and they'll do theirs as well. >> reporter: you got it. jon: gotta have the fries. the parents of a u.s. marine sued by their homeowners' association. why? because they're showing how proud they are of his military service. his mother talks to fox news about their legal battle. and, rick, what else do you have coming up? >> reporter: here's a chance for viewers to make a difference. if you go to the "happening now" page at foxnews.com, it's your chance to vote. a couple of minutes look, and look how close it is for the must-see moment of the day. it's between the giant shark in the upper right-hand corner of your screen right there or the new mama panda on the left-hand side. they are just a couple of votes apart, and you can make the difference. we'll have it for you coming up, your must-see moment. you decide, we report. more "happening now" coming right up.

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